Ucommune raises $43.5 million in Series C funding

Chinese co-working space provider Ucommune has raised RMB 300 million ($43.5 million) in Series C funding, increasing its valuation to $1.8 billion.

The round is led by Prosperity Holdings, which also led Ucommune’s pre-C round in July 2017. The company, previously known as UrWork, is a major competitor to WeWork China, which raised $500 million in July.

Ucommune has raised a total of $450 million since 2016. Its investors have included Gopher Asset Management, Zhongrong International Trust, and Jingrong Holdings. Prior to its recent round, it received RMB 110 million in venture funding from the Shenzhen-based Qianhai Wutong Mergers and Acquisitions Funds (前海梧桐并购基金) in January.

The company grew its working spaces rapidly in the first half of 2018, increasing from 2.5 million square feet of managed space to of 6.2 million square feet.

Ucommune has been on a spending spree recently, following acquisition with acquisition. In July, the company purchased Shanghai-based co-working company Workingdom for RMB 300 million, the same amount it has just raised.

This was preceded by the acquisition of co-working service provider New Space in January. In March, Ucommune acquired Chinese co-working space Woo Space. During the same month, the company bought Wedo Union, a community-based co-working and incubation enterprise that also received funding from ucommune in 2017.